WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.600 Okay, this morning we're going to go back to our reading in Luke's Gospel. 00:00:05.600 --> 00:00:10.439 So this is the beginning of a new series for us here in St. Columba's. 00:00:10.439 --> 00:00:16.240 For our morning worship, the next 10 Sundays, God willing we will be looking at parables 00:00:16.240 --> 00:00:19.160 in Luke. 00:00:19.160 --> 00:00:23.879 Not all of them, there's more than 10, but we're going to do them consecutively in 00:00:23.879 --> 00:00:30.559 the sense that we'll move through the chapters of Luke as we do them. 00:00:30.559 --> 00:00:34.759 So today we're looking at a very well known and it's a very appropriate one to begin with, 00:00:34.759 --> 00:00:42.920 the parable of the sore Luke chapter 8 from the beginning to verse 17. 00:00:42.920 --> 00:00:51.960 Now any column, for example, a ministry student or anyone being encouraged to take services 00:00:51.960 --> 00:00:56.480 or preach sermons will be told there's nothing like a good story. 00:00:56.480 --> 00:01:00.159 Make sure you illustrate your sermons with lots of good stories. 00:01:00.159 --> 00:01:06.599 It gives people breathing spaces, it gives them time to relax, it helps people understand 00:01:06.599 --> 00:01:14.719 the theological truth behind the message that you're bringing and it's the key to all good 00:01:14.719 --> 00:01:15.719 sermons. 00:01:15.719 --> 00:01:20.799 But what I'd like to say is, wait a minute, hold on, slow down and stop just for a moment, 00:01:20.799 --> 00:01:22.119 that's so quick. 00:01:22.119 --> 00:01:26.920 Let's not, in other words, sorry, I didn't make the connection between that and the parables. 00:01:26.920 --> 00:01:30.599 A lot of people say, well look at Jesus, he told so many parables and they were great 00:01:30.599 --> 00:01:38.280 stories that everyone understood and were clear explanations of theological truth. 00:01:38.280 --> 00:01:44.400 Let's not be quite so quick, let's not misunderstand Jesus or shortchange God. 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:47.079 This parable is all about the Word of God. 00:01:47.079 --> 00:01:52.079 It's all about the seed which Jesus describes as the Word of God. 00:01:52.079 --> 00:01:57.439 So let's do a little bit of plowing at the beginning by way of introduction just to 00:01:57.439 --> 00:02:02.599 get clear why Jesus told parables in the Bible. 00:02:02.599 --> 00:02:10.680 The immediate context helps for us because Luke is unfolding, Luke is describing in the 00:02:10.680 --> 00:02:16.639 gospel the outworking of Jesus' ministry and his preaching of the good news of the 00:02:16.639 --> 00:02:18.239 gospel. 00:02:18.239 --> 00:02:26.719 In the previous chapter, in Luke chapter 7 and in verse 22, he said, when John was 00:02:26.719 --> 00:02:29.639 asking the question, is Jesus really the Messiah? 00:02:29.639 --> 00:02:31.919 Is he the one that is to come? 00:02:31.919 --> 00:02:33.879 Jesus said, go tell John what you've seen and heard. 00:02:33.879 --> 00:02:37.719 The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead 00:02:37.719 --> 00:02:42.000 are raised, the poor have good news, preach to them. 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:47.439 So, and you'll find that throughout John's Luke's gospel that there's this emphasis on 00:02:47.439 --> 00:02:51.080 the good news of the kingdom of God. 00:02:51.080 --> 00:02:58.159 And his emphasis both here, both there and also in the brief summary version of the Sermon 00:02:58.159 --> 00:03:04.280 and the Mount that he gives at the beginning, he speaks about those who are poor in spirit, 00:03:04.280 --> 00:03:08.280 who will receive the message of the good news of the kingdom. 00:03:08.280 --> 00:03:16.680 In other words, he's getting across and throughout his gospel, those who are not poor financially, 00:03:16.680 --> 00:03:23.439 but those who recognize their poverty of spirit and need before God. 00:03:23.439 --> 00:03:28.960 He's overcoming the belief that is prevalent in the, among particularly the religious people 00:03:28.960 --> 00:03:34.319 around him, that the kingdom of God is for the good people, for the worthy people, the 00:03:34.319 --> 00:03:38.159 people who have earned it, the religious people maybe. 00:03:38.159 --> 00:03:43.799 The three miracles in the previous chapter, they deal with sickness, death and the sinful 00:03:43.799 --> 00:03:44.800 life. 00:03:44.800 --> 00:03:50.680 All of these great reasons for the good news of the kingdom of God. 00:03:50.680 --> 00:03:56.960 And the three recipients in the previous chapter who believed, well, at least according to 00:03:56.960 --> 00:04:05.079 the hearers of that time, the religious worthy, those who were the recipients of these miracles 00:04:05.079 --> 00:04:06.919 were the unworthy. 00:04:06.919 --> 00:04:14.159 The Gentile, a woman and a notorious sinner, all of whom were regarded by their religious 00:04:14.159 --> 00:04:23.159 elite of the day as being unworthy of the kingdom of God, of not being able to have 00:04:23.159 --> 00:04:27.959 a place at the great marriage feast of the Lamb, as it were. 00:04:27.959 --> 00:04:34.560 So the immediate context is that Jesus is wanting to get across the importance of how 00:04:34.560 --> 00:04:41.959 we listen and listening and depending on Jesus in a needy way spiritually. 00:04:41.959 --> 00:04:45.560 But then there's a wider context also. 00:04:45.560 --> 00:04:52.560 Sam 78, where we sung from, it gives a prophetic description of how the Messiah would teach, 00:04:52.560 --> 00:04:54.480 she would teach in parables. 00:04:54.480 --> 00:04:57.519 And that's been fulfilled by Jesus here. 00:04:57.519 --> 00:05:03.920 And then in Isaiah chapter 6, in verse 9, and that's quoted here in the chapter we read 00:05:03.920 --> 00:05:16.920 together in Luke chapter 8, if you look at verse 9 and 10, it's not set out so clearly 00:05:16.920 --> 00:05:19.640 as a quote, but you see it there. 00:05:19.640 --> 00:05:25.400 Jesus asked, as disciples asked rather what the parable meant, and he said to them, to 00:05:25.400 --> 00:05:29.280 you, has been given the secrets of the kingdom of God, but to others they are imperable. 00:05:29.279 --> 00:05:34.279 So that, and here he's quoting from Isaiah, seeing they may not see and hearing they may 00:05:34.279 --> 00:05:39.279 not understand, a quote from Isaiah 6 verse 9. 00:05:39.279 --> 00:05:44.919 It's quoted more fully in the Matthew version of this parable and also recorded in the Marken 00:05:44.919 --> 00:05:47.639 version in chapter 4. 00:05:47.639 --> 00:05:53.039 So Jesus is saying that these stories are not really just straightforward. 00:05:53.040 --> 00:06:01.520 They are not simply illustrations to make a point which makes the point easier to understand, 00:06:01.520 --> 00:06:04.760 not exactly. 00:06:04.760 --> 00:06:07.320 Not so straightforward as that. 00:06:07.320 --> 00:06:12.800 Jesus is saying, and he's in quoting from Isaiah, he's reminding them that the stories 00:06:12.800 --> 00:06:21.920 were revealed, were given to reveal something about the hearts of the hearers, the listeners. 00:06:21.920 --> 00:06:26.400 To you as an ear to hear, let them hear. 00:06:26.400 --> 00:06:31.600 But those who are seeing may not see and those who are hearing may not understand. 00:06:31.600 --> 00:06:37.800 And it's highlighting that the parables separated the listeners, those who wanted to find out 00:06:37.800 --> 00:06:42.120 exactly what they meant, and those who just shrugged their shoulders and said, ah, well, 00:06:42.120 --> 00:06:43.120 it's just a story. 00:06:43.120 --> 00:06:45.720 It hasn't got any real meaning, it's unintelligible. 00:06:45.720 --> 00:06:49.720 It was pretty, I enjoyed it, I liked the story, but it doesn't mean anything. 00:06:49.720 --> 00:06:52.800 I don't think God is speaking through it. 00:06:52.800 --> 00:06:58.840 So it wasn't, the parables weren't given quite so much to aid understanding like illustrations, 00:06:58.840 --> 00:07:03.560 although when they explained, they do aid understanding. 00:07:03.560 --> 00:07:09.360 But rather they were more like test cases as to whether the listeners wanted to understand 00:07:09.360 --> 00:07:15.880 the gospel and to dig deeper to find out the meaning and learn more, or just walk away 00:07:15.879 --> 00:07:20.360 without any spiritual understanding of what was being said. 00:07:20.360 --> 00:07:26.600 In other words, the parables actually hid the truth from those who were not willing to 00:07:26.600 --> 00:07:35.800 listen or who didn't want to listen or who were negative in their response to Jesus Christ. 00:07:35.800 --> 00:07:41.800 Jesus reveals the mysteries of the kingdom through the parables as they explained, and 00:07:41.800 --> 00:07:46.439 they make perfect sense as they're explored. 00:07:46.439 --> 00:07:51.680 But for those who just couldn't be bothered, their hearts became hardened further to the 00:07:51.680 --> 00:07:52.680 truth. 00:07:52.680 --> 00:07:56.400 They didn't seek the Jesus of the parables. 00:07:56.400 --> 00:08:00.480 So for Jesus, the parables are not really part of a sermon structure. 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:05.319 They're not just breathing space or illustrations, nice stories to make the gospel really easy 00:08:05.319 --> 00:08:06.319 to understand. 00:08:06.319 --> 00:08:12.639 They had, and they still have a purpose of blinding the eyes of those who don't want to 00:08:12.639 --> 00:08:16.159 see, who don't want to search, who don't want to find out, who don't want to come to Christ 00:08:16.159 --> 00:08:17.159 for help. 00:08:17.159 --> 00:08:26.240 And there's a very important truth at the foundation of that explanation with regard 00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:31.959 to the way you listen and the way I listen to the Word of God. 00:08:31.959 --> 00:08:37.679 Does your interaction with the Word of God in mind, does it draw you to that place where 00:08:37.679 --> 00:08:44.960 you see your need more and look for grace and help and deeper understanding? 00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:50.120 Does it draw you closer to Jesus, or do you just close the Bible and say, well, I don't 00:08:50.120 --> 00:08:53.000 understand it anyway? 00:08:53.000 --> 00:08:55.799 It's not relevant to my needs. 00:08:55.799 --> 00:09:00.079 And so you harden your heart against the truth of the gospel. 00:09:00.080 --> 00:09:07.400 And you don't allow it to expose your need and expose the truth of Jesus Christ. 00:09:07.400 --> 00:09:09.240 So that's by way of introduction. 00:09:09.240 --> 00:09:14.400 The parable of the sore here, look at it for a few minutes this morning, probably would 00:09:14.400 --> 00:09:19.560 be better to be called the parable of the soil or the parable of the seed. 00:09:19.560 --> 00:09:25.960 Because the sores, well, he is integral to it, but it's more about the... more than anything, 00:09:25.960 --> 00:09:30.680 it's about the soil in terms of the story, the parable that he tells. 00:09:30.680 --> 00:09:33.320 So what's the parable about? 00:09:33.320 --> 00:09:36.080 What is this story that Jesus tells? 00:09:36.080 --> 00:09:37.480 What's it about? 00:09:37.480 --> 00:09:40.840 It's about getting rich. 00:09:40.840 --> 00:09:42.280 It's about bringing up kids. 00:09:42.280 --> 00:09:48.200 It's about getting a job, promotion, going on holiday, having a new house, being ill, 00:09:48.200 --> 00:09:53.600 being redundant, being bullied at work, exams, traveling the world, falling in love, growing 00:09:53.600 --> 00:10:00.680 old, going into overdraft, being hurt by a friend watching Netflix, reading the Bible, 00:10:00.680 --> 00:10:06.600 not believing in Jesus' unseen spiritual enemies, persevering, authentic faith, the mystery of 00:10:06.600 --> 00:10:07.840 God overcoming death. 00:10:07.840 --> 00:10:12.600 It's about all of these things, isn't it? 00:10:12.600 --> 00:10:15.399 Because Jesus talks about that in the passage. 00:10:15.399 --> 00:10:21.800 He says when he's explaining it, he says the things of this world, what does he say? 00:10:21.799 --> 00:10:27.759 The cares and the riches and the pleasures of life, the times of testing and trial, the 00:10:27.759 --> 00:10:29.759 spiritual opposition we face. 00:10:29.759 --> 00:10:31.919 It's about all of these things. 00:10:31.919 --> 00:10:37.319 It's about the things of your life and of my life today and tomorrow and during the week. 00:10:37.319 --> 00:10:39.599 It's about all of these things. 00:10:39.599 --> 00:10:44.599 Let's not so spiritualize the stories that it's of no relevance and no meaning to how 00:10:44.599 --> 00:10:48.039 you will go out and live your life and me, mine, tomorrow. 00:10:48.039 --> 00:10:51.599 So it's about all of these things. 00:10:51.600 --> 00:10:52.879 But can I focus it down? 00:10:52.879 --> 00:10:54.639 Can I focus it right down? 00:10:54.639 --> 00:10:59.920 Because it's got a central message and a central truth, which is the condition of your heart 00:10:59.920 --> 00:11:01.800 and of my heart before God. 00:11:01.800 --> 00:11:03.800 That's really what it's about. 00:11:03.800 --> 00:11:11.000 Because the soil is a picture of our hearts and how we respond to the seed, which is the 00:11:11.000 --> 00:11:12.519 Word of God. 00:11:12.519 --> 00:11:15.519 And so it's all about the condition of our heart before God. 00:11:15.519 --> 00:11:20.279 So if you wanted to take a theme from that parable, that's what it is. 00:11:20.279 --> 00:11:21.600 It's the... 00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:28.399 Jesus speaking about the condition of our hearts before God through His Word. 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:35.720 Now if God is God, then that matters, doesn't it? 00:11:35.720 --> 00:11:41.360 The condition of our hearts before God, you know, if He's the Creator, the given of life, 00:11:41.360 --> 00:11:48.240 if He's the King of kings before whom we will all stand one day, who says that we are rebels, 00:11:48.240 --> 00:11:56.840 whose hearts need to change by grace, which is the good news of the kingdom, then it matters. 00:11:56.840 --> 00:12:04.240 If He's some distant potentate of no power or a make-believe then, let's just close the 00:12:04.240 --> 00:12:09.360 service down just now and go and walk on the car-free streets. 00:12:09.360 --> 00:12:11.680 Well done, everyone who made it today. 00:12:11.680 --> 00:12:14.360 Proud of you. 00:12:14.360 --> 00:12:20.000 So if God is God, remember, but what is Jesus asking? 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:24.840 What is Jesus asking of us in unveiling this parable? 00:12:24.840 --> 00:12:27.840 What's He asking? 00:12:27.840 --> 00:12:29.960 Well He's asking at least these questions. 00:12:29.960 --> 00:12:35.919 When you read the Bible, which is the voice of God, do you believe it or do you ignore 00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:38.039 it? 00:12:38.039 --> 00:12:42.519 And do you say, well, I can't accept that teaching and the kind of life I'm living. 00:12:42.519 --> 00:12:45.679 I can't accept it. 00:12:45.679 --> 00:12:52.480 It doesn't even penetrate beyond your ears. 00:12:52.480 --> 00:12:55.480 He's also asking, well, how do you respond? 00:12:55.480 --> 00:13:00.799 How do we respond to God when troubles happen in your life? 00:13:00.799 --> 00:13:09.000 You know, the seed that falls on the stony ground when testing comes, what happens? 00:13:09.000 --> 00:13:10.720 So God is asking that question. 00:13:10.720 --> 00:13:15.120 What do you do with God when trouble comes, when difficulty comes in your life? 00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:17.200 How do you deal with that? 00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:24.600 Do you respond in the way He explains here, which we'll go on to look at? 00:13:24.600 --> 00:13:30.879 Or He's also asking, what is filling your heart and life day to day? 00:13:30.879 --> 00:13:36.000 What's important so that you've no time for God in your day to day life? 00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:43.600 What is, you know, He talks about the seed that fell among the thorns and it's choked 00:13:43.600 --> 00:13:47.639 by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life so that there's no fruit, fruit doesn't 00:13:47.639 --> 00:13:48.639 mature. 00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:52.440 And He's saying, what is it when you leave the church, what is it in your day to day 00:13:52.440 --> 00:13:58.600 life that is filling your life with such importance that there's no place for Jesus Christ, no 00:13:58.600 --> 00:14:00.360 place for bearing fruit? 00:14:00.360 --> 00:14:07.080 So the really relevant questions that He's asking of us in a response to the Word of 00:14:07.080 --> 00:14:10.440 God as the living Word. 00:14:10.440 --> 00:14:14.879 So He's asking these questions, what's He teaching? 00:14:14.879 --> 00:14:15.879 What's He teaching? 00:14:15.879 --> 00:14:20.440 Well, He's teaching about the condition of our hearts as listeners. 00:14:20.440 --> 00:14:24.800 So all about listening this parable, listening to God, listening to Jesus Christ, listening 00:14:24.800 --> 00:14:29.879 to the Bible as His living Word, the condition of our hearts. 00:14:29.879 --> 00:14:37.159 He's reminding us that we naturally reject the Word of God. 00:14:37.159 --> 00:14:42.480 Naturally we're like the seed that is thrown onto the path. 00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:46.279 The ones along the path of those who hear or who have heard, then the devil comes and 00:14:46.279 --> 00:14:50.320 takes away the word from their hearts so they may not believe and be saved. 00:14:50.320 --> 00:14:53.600 Really hard soil, that's what He's talking about. 00:14:53.600 --> 00:14:57.919 Naturally that is the condition of every one of our hearts. 00:14:57.919 --> 00:15:03.000 Naturally we reject the Word of God, naturally. 00:15:03.000 --> 00:15:05.079 Spiritually we're rebels against God. 00:15:05.079 --> 00:15:12.199 Without the preparatory work of God in our hearts, we have hardened hearts against Him. 00:15:12.199 --> 00:15:19.919 And so we need God to work in our hearts to change them so that we can receive His Word 00:15:19.919 --> 00:15:23.319 by faith and respond to His Word. 00:15:23.320 --> 00:15:29.760 So even as we listen today, there's a spiritual enemy at work who's always seeking to take 00:15:29.760 --> 00:15:32.840 away that seed from our hearts. 00:15:32.840 --> 00:15:34.040 That is His work. 00:15:34.040 --> 00:15:37.560 And naturally we will not receive His Word. 00:15:37.560 --> 00:15:39.320 Naturally we will not respond to His Word. 00:15:39.320 --> 00:15:45.160 We need a miracle of God's intervention in our lives. 00:15:45.160 --> 00:15:53.200 He's also saying that if our hearts are unchanged in response to the Word, even when we 00:15:53.200 --> 00:16:02.040 love hearing about Jesus early days, He will be a temporary phenomenon in our lives. 00:16:02.040 --> 00:16:07.720 So the parable speaks about this seed that is in shallow ground and then on ground it's 00:16:07.720 --> 00:16:09.000 choked. 00:16:09.000 --> 00:16:13.160 In one case there's joy for a little while until testing comes. 00:16:13.160 --> 00:16:17.800 In the other case, Jesus and His Word is choked altogether. 00:16:17.800 --> 00:16:20.080 Because there's not a change in the soil. 00:16:20.080 --> 00:16:23.639 There's not a change in the heart is what Jesus is saying. 00:16:23.639 --> 00:16:29.600 So there can be temporary joy in Jesus, an emotional experience about, oh, Jesus is great 00:16:29.600 --> 00:16:33.040 and He loves me and He's good. 00:16:33.040 --> 00:16:40.759 And we can maybe expect all kinds of amazing things from Jesus without truly understanding 00:16:40.759 --> 00:16:47.200 what He says with no deep insight and with no willingness to allow His Word to dig deep 00:16:47.200 --> 00:16:53.560 into our hearts so that when difficulties come, we just stick our fingers up at Jesus 00:16:53.560 --> 00:16:58.480 and say, well, I thought you were going to be my Savior and now you've abandoned me. 00:16:58.480 --> 00:17:00.000 Life's no better for me now. 00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:02.759 I'm just going to walk away. 00:17:02.759 --> 00:17:07.519 We shrivel in times of testing, that's what He's saying, because the Word hasn't penetrated 00:17:07.519 --> 00:17:09.519 our hearts. 00:17:09.519 --> 00:17:17.160 Or He will be like an insurance policy to us where we think, oh, Jesus is great and that's 00:17:17.160 --> 00:17:18.160 marvelous. 00:17:18.160 --> 00:17:21.519 I don't need to think about it now until I die and then I'll go to heaven. 00:17:21.519 --> 00:17:26.560 But in the meantime, my life is so full of important things and cares and enjoyments and 00:17:26.560 --> 00:17:30.519 pleasures and stuff that He's no place in my soul. 00:17:30.519 --> 00:17:34.560 He hasn't really taken over my heart and I don't really love it. 00:17:34.560 --> 00:17:37.360 He's an important day to day, in other words. 00:17:37.360 --> 00:17:40.840 And again, faith just withers because there's no depth. 00:17:40.840 --> 00:17:43.519 There's too many competing loves. 00:17:43.519 --> 00:17:48.960 We can't give our love to lots of different things, Jesus says. 00:17:48.960 --> 00:17:54.680 Too many distractions that I love more that are more important than the person of Jesus. 00:17:54.680 --> 00:18:01.319 That's if our hearts are unchanged, if we don't let Jesus into the heart. 00:18:01.319 --> 00:18:09.720 And I think what Jesus is saying here powerfully is that we need Jesus' power in our lives 00:18:09.720 --> 00:18:13.640 to both listen and to live for Him. 00:18:13.640 --> 00:18:16.920 We need His power to listen and to live. 00:18:16.920 --> 00:18:24.240 We need His sovereign power to work in our hearts. 00:18:24.240 --> 00:18:27.240 His timing, His mystery, His will. 00:18:27.240 --> 00:18:29.279 You think of the parable of the sower. 00:18:29.279 --> 00:18:32.360 We'll take God as being the sower, okay? 00:18:32.360 --> 00:18:34.400 Like use other people to sow the seed. 00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:36.600 But we'll take Him as the sower. 00:18:36.599 --> 00:18:40.199 The sower needs to prepare the soil, doesn't he? 00:18:40.199 --> 00:18:44.439 If it's to bear fruit, if the roots are to go deep. 00:18:44.439 --> 00:18:49.799 That's really the unspoken truth of this parable is that the sower has already done lots of 00:18:49.799 --> 00:18:54.799 work in the soil to prepare it for the seed. 00:18:54.799 --> 00:18:59.599 And the reality is, God is the sower of first cause. 00:18:59.599 --> 00:19:08.519 We need God to change our hearts because we're dead, not sick. 00:19:08.519 --> 00:19:10.679 Spiritually we're dead without Him. 00:19:10.679 --> 00:19:14.679 And we need God to change our hearts right from the beginning. 00:19:14.679 --> 00:19:20.039 And within that there's great mystery about His sovereignty and our responsibility. 00:19:20.039 --> 00:19:26.439 But we come to Him asking for Him to change our hearts and to renew us and to prepare 00:19:26.440 --> 00:19:34.720 us to receive Him and to receive His Word because without Him we have no life. 00:19:34.720 --> 00:19:37.080 And His Word is life. 00:19:37.080 --> 00:19:43.000 You know, it talks about the seed going into the ground, then bearing forth fruit, deep 00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:44.440 roots going in. 00:19:44.440 --> 00:19:48.360 His Word is life, you know, that's the interesting thing about seed, isn't it? 00:19:48.360 --> 00:19:49.600 The seed goes into the ground. 00:19:49.600 --> 00:19:51.120 But what happens to the seed? 00:19:51.120 --> 00:19:53.080 We see this elsewhere in Scripture. 00:19:53.079 --> 00:19:57.720 The seed dies before it brings life. 00:19:57.720 --> 00:20:00.359 And there's mystery in that, isn't there? 00:20:00.359 --> 00:20:02.960 And the seed is the Word of God. 00:20:02.960 --> 00:20:09.919 But it's much more than just the Word of God, can I say, as a book. 00:20:09.919 --> 00:20:12.119 The seed is much more than a dry kernel. 00:20:12.119 --> 00:20:15.639 It mysteriously dies and bursts into life. 00:20:15.639 --> 00:20:21.919 And so the Word of God is much more than just the accumulation of knowledge from a book, 00:20:21.920 --> 00:20:25.160 theological and everything else, knowledge. 00:20:25.160 --> 00:20:27.800 It is, it's not less than that. 00:20:27.800 --> 00:20:30.360 It's not less than intellectual knowledge. 00:20:30.360 --> 00:20:32.360 But it's more than that. 00:20:32.360 --> 00:20:41.360 It is coming to recognize the seed, the Word of John 1 who dies in order that we can live, 00:20:41.360 --> 00:20:44.080 who dies to bring life to us. 00:20:44.080 --> 00:20:51.240 So our relationship to the Word is relational, not merely intellectual, not merely about 00:20:51.240 --> 00:20:55.160 the accumulation of facts. 00:20:55.160 --> 00:21:01.319 It is entrusting our lives to the truth of the Word which is the person of Jesus Christ 00:21:01.319 --> 00:21:03.480 and what He says. 00:21:03.480 --> 00:21:11.920 It is being overwhelmed by His great love and commitment to us so that we will not allow 00:21:11.920 --> 00:21:18.319 everything else in life to choke Him from His preeminence in our lives. 00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:27.039 It is just recognizing His amazing love and rooting ourselves deeply in Him. 00:21:27.039 --> 00:21:33.399 So the Word of God, when it speaks here of the Word of God as the seed is the Bible, 00:21:33.399 --> 00:21:38.200 but it's much more than sometimes I think we think of what the Bible is. 00:21:38.200 --> 00:21:44.039 We think of the Bible as simply a document, but we know that Jesus, God said in the beginning 00:21:44.039 --> 00:21:48.680 was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. 00:21:48.680 --> 00:21:57.079 So it is taking our relationship with the Bible and recognizing it, revealing the person 00:21:57.079 --> 00:22:03.079 God communicating through us through Jesus Christ. 00:22:03.079 --> 00:22:09.879 And He's also teaching, and I want to just focus on this as the main point, not the longest 00:22:09.879 --> 00:22:13.480 you'll be pleased, but the main point is that genuine life. 00:22:13.480 --> 00:22:22.000 The genuine life of faith, genuine life of a believer is all about root and fruit. 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:23.559 That's what it's all about. 00:22:23.559 --> 00:22:29.640 A genuine life of a believer is all about root and fruit because he talks about the heart, 00:22:29.640 --> 00:22:34.920 it's the heart that is hard and then he speaks about the good heart at the end. 00:22:34.920 --> 00:22:42.279 And he says that as for that, and the good soil are those who hearing the Word hold it 00:22:42.279 --> 00:22:46.440 fast in an honest and good heart and bear fruit with patience. 00:22:46.440 --> 00:22:52.759 So the root is able to go deep in order for the fruit to be able to be born. 00:22:52.759 --> 00:22:55.759 That's the truth of this in many other parts of Scripture. 00:22:55.759 --> 00:23:00.519 The Word therefore, the Word, Jesus Christ and the revelation of Him through His Word 00:23:00.519 --> 00:23:02.519 must go deep into our hearts. 00:23:02.519 --> 00:23:04.079 Isn't that the difference? 00:23:04.079 --> 00:23:09.480 There's shallow, there's choked, there's hard, but then there's prepared soil. 00:23:09.480 --> 00:23:17.200 So that the Word of God goes into hearts that are spiritually exercised. 00:23:17.200 --> 00:23:23.200 So as Christians, we have this great responsibility to cooperate with the Holy Spirit and let 00:23:23.200 --> 00:23:30.160 the light of God's revelation, the Word of God, the person of Jesus into the dark corners, 00:23:30.160 --> 00:23:36.799 the black corners, the black areas of our heart to allow His light and His cleansing 00:23:36.799 --> 00:23:48.440 in, so that our roots become strong because He is gold, because He is grace and love. 00:23:48.440 --> 00:23:54.000 And we are to be a people who allow Him to search into the deepest corners of our lives 00:23:54.000 --> 00:24:02.119 in order that we can root out the sin and the weeds and everything that chokes us and 00:24:02.119 --> 00:24:06.399 the stones and everything else, so that we can be well-rooted in Him. 00:24:06.400 --> 00:24:16.160 So we search the Word, we wrestle with Him, we are close to His Word and His promises and 00:24:16.160 --> 00:24:23.759 His truth and His character, and we pit them against our experience. 00:24:23.759 --> 00:24:30.440 And that happens most when it doesn't happen on the rollercoaster, it's not the best illustration, 00:24:30.440 --> 00:24:35.840 it doesn't happen on the high points of the rollercoaster, on the low points. 00:24:35.839 --> 00:24:37.720 It happens in the times of testing. 00:24:37.720 --> 00:24:39.199 That's what He's saying, isn't it? 00:24:39.199 --> 00:24:44.319 He's saying that you will know the grace of God and you will know the roots are dug 00:24:44.319 --> 00:24:48.839 not in the happy times, but in the difficult times. 00:24:48.839 --> 00:24:51.240 And that is hard going. 00:24:51.240 --> 00:24:56.079 Have you ever turned soil? 00:24:56.079 --> 00:24:57.079 That's, you know, unprepared? 00:24:57.079 --> 00:24:59.639 There's a lot of work in that. 00:24:59.639 --> 00:25:02.279 Sweb or brow, we do it. 00:25:02.279 --> 00:25:05.679 We dig out the weeds, we turn it, we fertilize it. 00:25:05.680 --> 00:25:07.400 We mature it, we eat it, whatever it is. 00:25:07.400 --> 00:25:09.080 But it's hard work. 00:25:09.080 --> 00:25:19.440 And God, Jesus is saying that we bear fruit when we have learned through trials and allowed 00:25:19.440 --> 00:25:25.880 His grace to dig into the very deep parts of our hearts, to consider the competing idols 00:25:25.880 --> 00:25:33.279 that may be there, to root out these idols so that we listen, so we say sorry, so that 00:25:33.279 --> 00:25:39.680 we submit and change and we allow Him to be the great gardener who tends our hearts. 00:25:39.680 --> 00:25:41.799 What's the parable saying? 00:25:41.799 --> 00:25:43.720 It's saying we're prone to shallowness. 00:25:43.720 --> 00:25:46.839 But He's saying testing will come. 00:25:46.839 --> 00:25:51.960 We're prone to competing loves, to loving other things before Jesus. 00:25:51.960 --> 00:25:56.519 And He says that will expose what we're a relationship with Him and our understanding. 00:25:56.519 --> 00:25:59.200 But grace changes everything for us. 00:25:59.200 --> 00:26:00.639 That's the key. 00:26:00.640 --> 00:26:04.880 Grace changes all of that, and we have a battle therefore. 00:26:04.880 --> 00:26:05.880 It's not easy. 00:26:05.880 --> 00:26:10.240 We have a battle to allow grace to change our dark hearts and we allow God through the 00:26:10.240 --> 00:26:14.360 Spirit and our cooperation to be changed by Him. 00:26:14.360 --> 00:26:21.600 The word is not simply an ethic or a law, I think, as we often understand that. 00:26:21.600 --> 00:26:26.800 It is a law of love of a crucified Savior. 00:26:26.800 --> 00:26:28.720 That's what it is. 00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:34.240 It's a crucified Savior we will have that we will remember shortly who offers forgiveness 00:26:34.240 --> 00:26:37.799 and adoption into His everlasting Kingdom. 00:26:37.799 --> 00:26:44.079 This is about the Kingdom of God, His gift and a life that overcomes testing and darkness 00:26:44.079 --> 00:26:51.480 and opposition and trumps every deceitful love that tempts us away from Him. 00:26:51.480 --> 00:27:01.240 And if we don't at least see that in seed form, you'll walk away unchanged by Jesus 00:27:01.240 --> 00:27:03.599 Christ and by His Word. 00:27:03.599 --> 00:27:08.160 And the Lord's Supper is a visual for us of that as we think about it. 00:27:08.160 --> 00:27:13.360 So it's a spiritual exercise, and it's an exercise that takes time. 00:27:13.360 --> 00:27:17.440 Jesus reminding us our relation to the Word and the condition of our hearts. 00:27:17.440 --> 00:27:21.519 And if you've ever planted any seed, you'll know that. 00:27:21.519 --> 00:27:27.880 You don't wake up the next morning and there's an apple tree or whatever it might be. 00:27:27.880 --> 00:27:31.200 Nothing seems to happen for ages, it's very frustrating. 00:27:31.200 --> 00:27:35.840 But there is something happening, there's a lot going on. 00:27:35.840 --> 00:27:39.799 And that's often how God works for us. 00:27:39.799 --> 00:27:43.600 He's working patience in us and He's working perseverance. 00:27:43.599 --> 00:27:49.839 The most common questions that I hear and that I ask myself are why Lord, when Lord, 00:27:49.839 --> 00:27:51.119 or what's the point Lord? 00:27:51.119 --> 00:27:56.240 I want to know now Lord, I feel like giving up Lord. 00:27:56.240 --> 00:28:00.359 You aren't hearing Lord, you don't understand Lord. 00:28:00.359 --> 00:28:08.599 And often He's saying, I'm asking you just to be patient, to let that seed work in your 00:28:08.599 --> 00:28:16.319 heart, deep down rooted so that you can bear fruit, times of testing, times of misty, times 00:28:16.319 --> 00:28:21.919 when He is dealing with the loves that are part of our hearts. 00:28:21.919 --> 00:28:26.399 And that can seem very unglamorous in the Christian walk. 00:28:26.399 --> 00:28:30.879 We like glamour and often it's not like that. 00:28:30.879 --> 00:28:38.480 And then lastly, I think within that whole idea of root and fruit, there must be fruit. 00:28:38.480 --> 00:28:43.640 We seek that as believers. 00:28:43.640 --> 00:28:49.400 When we work with God, when we respond to His voice, when we repent of our sins and come 00:28:49.400 --> 00:28:58.680 to Him in need, when we hear as Jesus wants to hear, like those who are poor in spirit. 00:28:58.680 --> 00:29:02.400 That's who the kingdom of God is for, those who are poor in spirit, who recognize their 00:29:02.400 --> 00:29:11.200 need and we come to Him and we let His life and His word work in us in dark times and 00:29:11.200 --> 00:29:16.200 with the loves and the idols that are in our hearts, rooting them out. 00:29:16.200 --> 00:29:18.280 We will bear His fruit. 00:29:18.280 --> 00:29:19.440 We will bear His fruit. 00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:22.200 That's not an optional extra. 00:29:22.200 --> 00:29:26.519 And I think what's the thing about fruit? 00:29:26.519 --> 00:29:29.400 It's always visible. 00:29:29.400 --> 00:29:35.040 Fruit does, it's not a potato which grows under the ground. 00:29:35.040 --> 00:29:38.440 It's fruit that can be seen. 00:29:38.440 --> 00:29:41.360 Beautiful, attractive and appealing. 00:29:41.360 --> 00:29:46.440 People will see the light of Christ in our lives. 00:29:46.440 --> 00:29:55.040 Many, many years ago, I was 16 years old, went to Canada on holiday and drove from Toronto 00:29:55.040 --> 00:29:57.080 to Niagara Falls. 00:29:57.079 --> 00:30:02.799 And there's a little place just before Niagara Falls called Niagara by the Lake, I can still 00:30:02.799 --> 00:30:06.679 smell the fruit in that place. 00:30:06.679 --> 00:30:09.240 It was like walking into a fruit heaven. 00:30:09.240 --> 00:30:12.799 I don't know if it was or not, but that's my memory of it. 00:30:12.799 --> 00:30:19.960 Peach trees and apple trees and just this verdant smell, beautiful smell and beautiful 00:30:19.960 --> 00:30:21.839 visual. 00:30:21.839 --> 00:30:28.359 And I still sense that 40 years later. 00:30:28.359 --> 00:30:32.559 And the fruit of the spirit is similar in our lives. 00:30:32.559 --> 00:30:39.240 It doesn't need to be that glamorous or dramatic, is it? 00:30:39.240 --> 00:30:47.480 But as you go into your work this week, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, 00:30:47.480 --> 00:30:51.359 faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. 00:30:51.359 --> 00:30:54.519 That's greatness to Jesus. 00:30:54.519 --> 00:30:56.439 That's fruit bearing. 00:30:56.439 --> 00:31:02.919 That's what requires our roots to be well dug down in the Word, who is Jesus and in 00:31:02.919 --> 00:31:10.759 His communication to us through the Bible and in the Bible and in its truth. 00:31:10.759 --> 00:31:14.279 Just let Jesus change the world. 00:31:14.279 --> 00:31:20.000 Our work is to partner with Him to change our hearts as Christians. 00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:22.759 And then just see where in the world that will lead. 00:31:22.759 --> 00:31:25.240 Don't worry about that side of things. 00:31:25.240 --> 00:31:28.920 Just let God do His work in your heart. 00:31:28.920 --> 00:31:31.960 Change your heart by His grace and His love. 00:31:31.960 --> 00:31:32.960 Transform you. 00:31:32.960 --> 00:31:42.920 Recognize His Lordship, His justice, His rightful desire to punish all evil and darkness. 00:31:42.920 --> 00:31:49.759 And yet to see that He's done that on Jesus' Son in your place and in mine. 00:31:49.759 --> 00:31:51.279 Because we put our faith and trust in Him. 00:31:51.279 --> 00:31:54.920 The greater love has no man than this. 00:31:54.920 --> 00:31:55.920 Amen. 00:31:55.920 --> 00:31:56.920 Let's pray. 00:31:56.920 --> 00:32:02.440 Father God, help us to understand You and Your Word and Your truth. 00:32:02.440 --> 00:32:06.519 We thank You for this amazing parable. 00:32:06.519 --> 00:32:13.920 And we thank You that You explained it to Your disciples, to those who asked. 00:32:13.920 --> 00:32:19.400 And we thank You that You explained the purpose of Your parables, which was to encourage us 00:32:19.400 --> 00:32:28.240 to dig deeper, to understand some things that are difficult because they are truth. 00:32:28.240 --> 00:32:35.000 And because You want us to be these needy, poor and spirit people who come to You for 00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:40.519 riches, who come to You for forgiveness and for life and for hope and perspective. 00:32:40.519 --> 00:32:42.000 And we pray for that today. 00:32:42.000 --> 00:32:46.400 And we pray Your Holy Spirit will take Your Word and apply it to us. 00:32:46.400 --> 00:32:52.680 If we are battling today with troubles and testings and difficult times and are really 00:32:52.680 --> 00:32:56.880 tempted to give up, maybe hear Your voice today. 00:32:56.880 --> 00:33:01.240 If we are being attracted, Lord God, by lots of other things in life, other loves, other 00:33:01.240 --> 00:33:06.640 idols that take the preeminence in our hearts, Lord, we will listen to You calling us back 00:33:06.640 --> 00:33:07.640 to Yourself. 00:33:07.640 --> 00:33:13.640 And if our hearts are hard and we have no intention of responding to Your Word, but just 00:33:13.640 --> 00:33:18.960 allow it to be taken away as swiftly as we walk out the door, then maybe hear Your voice 00:33:18.960 --> 00:33:24.640 also and bless the visual of Your Lord's support to us as we celebrate together today. 00:33:24.640 --> 00:33:27.160 In Jesus' name, we ask these things. 00:33:27.160 --> 00:33:45.160 Amen.